Savior
by pinetree13
Summary: one-shot. The Doctor saves River in the Library. "I will always save you, because you have always saved me."


**The idea for this fic was suggested by 'ThePhoenixandtheDragon.' Thanks to everyone who reviewed/favorited my last story, 'Aftermath'. If you haven't read it, I've got a lot of positive feedback, so I encourage you to check it out. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, etc. **

It was the morning after the Singing Towers. The Doctor had awoken to find his bed empty, River gone. Of course, he knew this would happen. He knew he had to stop running sometime. River had been equipped with everything she needed, yet it would still be no match for her heroic stubbornness.

But he had saved her.

He remembered saving her to the Library's hard drive, but somehow this wasn't enough. River still wasn't with him, and it still felt as though she was . . . gone. The Doctor couldn't bring himself to think the word _dead_.

One of his main reasons for saving her was that he might figure out a way to bring her back in the future. Now here he sat in the console room, hours after she had left, still as clueless as the day she died.

He knew he shouldn't dwell on this. After all, the longer he thought about her, the harder it would be to let her go. However, he just couldn't stop. To him, River had been the most interesting person in the universe, and he couldn't just carry on as if she never existed.

So he gave up on trying to forget her and instead tried to remember every single moment he had spent with her. He first met her in the Library, but he skipped over that memory, as it was more painful now than ever. Then there had been the crash of the Byzantium, the Pandorica, Utah, Berlin. . .

Berlin! That was it! He knew there had to have been something he was overlooking, and this was it. At this realization, the Doctor actually let out a giggle before spinning around to dial in the coordinates faster than he ever had before. He pulled the final lever, and he was off.

As soon as Sexy was on course, he set off to make his preparations. First, he rewired the light on the top of the TARDIS to make it shine a blinding white light, as he had remembered seeing. Next, he rushed down the hall to a room he usually kept locked, one full of many lethal objects.

He stopped in the doorway to ponder what exactly the best way was to go about this, his death. After coming up with a brilliant idea, he walked over to the poison cabinet in search of hemlock. He couldn't resist the parallel to _Romeo and Juliet. _Unfortunately, the entire cabinet seemed to be empty, due to all the risks to regeneration that poison involved.

Heaving a sigh, the Doctor began circling the room and was about to settle for a centurion sword when he found River's Alpha Mason. He had kept it when he gave her the squareness gun. Smiling to himself, he thought, _This is absolutely perfect._

The Doctor reentered the console room to find that landing was mere minutes away. He took a deep breath. _This is it._ He ran his fingers over the gun a few times, breathing in the scent of her that still lingered on it.

Finally, he decided that he simply could not wait any longer. He cocked the Alpha, slowly raised it to his left heart, and pulled the trigger.

Immediately, he collapsed on the floor. However, it wasn't long before the golden glow of regeneration began to fog his vision. His body was already repairing itself, and he needed to do this quickly.

Then he saw her.

There she was, River Song, lying motionless on the floor. She had just saved all the people in the Library at the expense of her own life. It was a noble act, and he couldn't blame her. He blamed himself for letting his guard down long enough for her to knock him out and handcuff him.

Mustering up every ounce of strength he had left, he slowly but surely inched his way over to her side. Once next to her, he threw his arms around her neck and collapsed on top of her.

River's eyes snapped open, and she saw what was happening. Her first instinct was to push him off. After all, what was the point in her life if the only one who's kept her going didn't even recognize her? But then she looked at him and saw that this was _her _Doctor. This realization made her so happy that tears began streaming down her cheeks. She pulled him in closer and let him give her his life.

She remembered that day in Berlin when she had given him all of her regenerations. Knowing the Doctor, that was probably what he was planning on doing now, and she couldn't allow it, so after she felt six surges of energy pass through him, she pushed him away. Had he been stronger at the moment, he would've rejected this and clung to her, but he didn't have the energy necessary for this. He fell onto his back, exhausted. Then the darkness closed in and pushed him down into a dreamless sleep.

River, who was immediately alert, jumped to her feet and hauled him into her arms. _He really doesn't look this heavy_, she thought as she carried him into his room, carefully placing him on his bed. As she stood there looking at him, she was overcome by a surge of gratitude: gratitude that she was alive, gratitude that this was _her _Doctor, and gratitude that they were finally, _finally _linear. They also had the same number of regenerations, now. Of course, the Doctor probably tried to give her more, but she had no intention of outliving him.

A few hours later, he woke up. As he blinked away the fog in his eyes, he could gradually make out some fluffy gold curls and worried eyes. "Hello, sweetie," he mumbled out.

After hearing him speak, River let out a sigh of relief. "That was an incredibly risky thing to do. Any number of things could've gone wrong." Her voice was not angry, but weary.

The Doctor's eyes became soft. "I couldn't possibly live without you, and I didn't intend on trying. If I wasn't able to save you, then what is the point of me?"

River couldn't keep up this calm façade anymore. She wrapped her arms around his neck and cried silently into his shoulder, the whole time whispering, "Thank you so, _so _much."

He lifted her chin so that she met his eyes. "I will always save you, because you have always saved me."

"I never thought I'd see you again, _this _you."

The corners of the Doctor's lips turned up slightly. "Surprise."

River let out a tiny giggle, and he scooted over to make room for her next to him on the bed. As she lay next to him, he stroked her hair, and she simply took in his presence. This was how everything always should have been and how it should always stay. To them it was paradise, falling asleep in the other's arms, and knowing that for once, everything was perfect. And she wouldn't change a thing, not one line.

**As always, reviews are very much appreciated. If you have a suggestion, I always accept them. Also, if you enjoyed this, you'll probly like some of my other fics as well. (hint hint) **


End file.
